At the time Ernest Hemingway chose to live in Cuba it was a simple and uncomplicated place, a place full of natural beauty, Spanish Colonial architecture and colorful wood shacks. It was rich in culture and indulgent when it came to the senses and the sensual. Heming- way’s “The Old Man and the Sea” has now been the propelling force behind two or three generations of sportfishing addicts that, due largely to his influence, have now reached their tentacles into every sea and ocean on this planet in pursuit of an experience something like the one Santiago had. For Hemingway, Cuba as his venue of choice was a locale that provided fertile fishing grounds for the great Blue Marlin, and a transmutation of the Spanish culture of which he was so fond. Cuba was an environment where he could feel the blood of life course through his veins and where the most profound of philos- ophies were simplified in the lives of impoverished fishermen who were his friends. The perspec- tive of simple men who took their pleasure in the natural and carnal worlds honored his sparse words, and gave him freedom to tell a story about the meaning of life without superlatives or unnecessary entanglement with multiple syllable words. There was a party at the International Game Fish Associa- tion celebrating what would have been Ernest Hemingway’s Hemingway In Cuba By: John Raymond Hook 100th birthday. Artifacts from his house in Cuba were brought in and put on display. It was a page in history. From across the vestibule my Captain waved me to enter a darkened room. I did. The room was filled with very many silent men whose faces were weathered, browned from the sun and creased by the wind. There was a single light. It was on a gentleman named Curt, who stood humbly reading from the famous small book. He got to the part where the great fish’s skeleton lay in the shallow water rippling as small waves rhythmically slid up the beach. The boy ran along with a café in hand, looking on as tourists from the States incorrectly speculated on the species. When the boy had delivered the warm drink and the old man had drank, sleep came, and the old man dreamed of lions on the distant shores of Africa...The silent men in the room wept. So did I. So did Curt. Cuba was a solace on Heming- way’s wounded soul. It afforded him a renewed ability to indulge in life, to again feel it, taste it, to be visually stimulated by it. It let the sea and its elements batter him, and heal him. The Spanish words came to him as music with a simple melody, but with a complex rhythm that made his heart pound and everything in him lust. Every self-indulgent moment spent in Cuba, the boat, the rum, the cigars, las mujeries, the camaraderie of pescadores, the salt burning in an open wound and 99 pages. A story well told. Some would say the best story. Some say they cannot go into the sea, look at a flying fish or watch a marlin swallow a bait without hearing his words. It wasn’t Hemingway’s Cuba that transcended into the 99 pages that so infected us, though it did provide beautiful illustrations. Cuba and all that it contained, was his muse. It was a place where mystically his soul found ways to express itself with words. A mutual embrace took place between Papa Hemingway and Mama Cuba leaving a legacy for each and a reminder to us, that to live with a passionate love of life is the long and short of it. Ernest Hemingway (1954) autographs a copy of his Pulitzer prize winning novel which was used for The Old Man & Sea trophy (pictured) in the Fishing Club's annual Silver Sailfish Derby. We congratulate Fishing Club member Charlie Boice of Palm Beach Gardens on his determination and deserved victory last year in winning the ‘Papa’ Hemingway Look-Alike Contest in Key West. After fifteen years of try- ing, Boice, who bested 121 other contestants, finally earned the coveted title. Charlie has been a club member for eight years and is an observer in the club’s venerable Silver Sailfish Derby…an event that once featured a trophy sponsored by Hemingway. In addition to earning the pres- tigious honor, Boice now becomes a judge in future Hemingway Look-Alike competitions. Congrats Charlie…oops, that’s Papa. Boice Wins Hemingway Contest 37 Tight Lines Bulletin - Spring 2016